Coco Jones Says the Entertainment Industry Has 'Gotten Better' for 'Dark-Skinned Black Women' (Exclusive)

Coco Jones.Photo:Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Coco Jones' head was in the clouds when she found out she received her first-everGrammy Awardnominations.

“I was asleep on a plane, and you have your wifi on, so iMessages still work. I kept feeling like this vibration, and I was like, ‘Geez, this plane is going through some turbulence,'" the musician andBel-Airstar tells PEOPLE. “Then I look at my phone, and I had all these notifications saying, ‘Congratulations!’ Of course, I was geeking.”

Coco Jones.Phillip Faraone/Getty

Phillip Faraone/Getty

“When I made ‘ICU’, I didn’t know if it would work in this time, in this generation. I didn’t know if it was too slow or too soulful. I didn’t know how the world would respond. I was just creatively experimenting,” Jones explains. “But I’m really grateful when I perform ‘ICU’ because the audience is screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. The last time that I had that type of reaction was when I was 14 or 15, and I was doing Disney Channel stuff.”

Back in her Disney days, when she starred in the filmLet It Shineand shows likeSo Random!andGood Luck Charlie, “Everything was kind of like fairytale vibes,” she recalls. “As a young kid, I definitely was sheltered and a little naive to the entertainment business. To me, everything felt magical and like it was always going to stay that way.”

Then came years of rejection as Jones tried to advance her music career and find good roles. Now, Jones feels her ongoing success comes amid a positive shift in representation in the entertainment industry.

“I definitely feel like the industry for dark-skinned Black women has gotten better and better, especially since I was a young girl,” says Jones. “And I think the more storylines and the more positions of power that are told from a woman of color’s perspective, the more opportunities [there are] for women to play those roles and to hire women that would understand those storylines.”

Simone Joy Jones, Coco Jones, Gabrielle Union and Tia Mowry.Amy Sussman/WireImage

Amy Sussman/WireImage

With all Jones has accomplished this year, she says one person’s stamp of approval reigns supreme: Beyoncé.

Upon meeting the “Break My Soul” superstar for the first time earlier this year at Roc Nation’s Pre-Grammy Brunch, “I was very ready to give my elevator pitch, convince her of my worthiness,” jokes Jones. “But she already knew of me, and I will never be the same."

source: people.com